Today I came across a post by Dion Hinchcliffe over at ZDNet on the potential of using blogs and wikis as the next generation of application platform extensible through the use of Web 2.0 widgets. Most of the projects I have worked on in the past few years have involved managing content in one form or fasion. He points out, "Blogs and wikis are an excellent starting point for creating Web 2.0 applications because they are already the most basic models for capturing and sharing content."
While I was certainly skeptical of the buzz around Web 2.0, the past 18 months has been a virtual explosion of blogs, wikis, social sites, user generated content and supporting new technologies.
As fascinating as emerging technologies and frameworks are, I also find it interesting how folks have extended their participation on the web. Today, people not only browse but participate socially and constructively (MySpace, Wikipedia, etc) on the web. While anecdotal, this is a departure from a few years back when most people were afraid to put their credit card on line, let alone voice their opnion. While I find the concept interesting, it is important to separate theory from reality.
Web 2.0 and SOA represent a new way for users and systems to interact but it doesn't pull all the disparate pieces together. I look foward to what's next...